


Time Out: Past Tense - Epilogue

by Firlefanzine



Category: The Professionals
Genre: Epilogue, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-11
Updated: 2011-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-24 12:47:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/263620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firlefanzine/pseuds/Firlefanzine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They stared at each other, suddenly realizing they had truly entered a brave new world--and that they just might be the only two human creatures in it.<br/>Pamela Rose, Time Out: Past Tense</p><p>Note: Reading the end of Pamela Rose's story did send cold shivers up and down my spine.<br/>And I couldn't stop thinking 'what will be...'?  This is the result.<br/>Thanks to Patty and Liz for beta! They couldn't always discourage me to write nonsense...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Out: Past Tense - Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Time Out: Past Tense](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/4916) by Pamela Rose. 



The little girl who was snuggling comfortably in the older woman’s lap was all excited  
“Tell me the story again, Ancestor! Please!”

Tanita didn’t object to the old name “ancestor”. At moments like this, when the older generation passed down the sayings of the beginning of their nation, there was always a deep connection to that long ago past, and Tanita was enjoying the ‘lesson’ as much as Anikatess, the daughter of her daughter. She teased the girl a bit.

“Oh come on, Anikatess! Those old stories are boring – and you already know them by heart.”

“Boring?” The little girl was aghast. That was part of the game. She gave her grandma a severe look, together with the usual answer: “Knowing our history gives us the strength to build our future.”

“Oh, then... It seems I have no choice.” Tanita smiled. Making a big deal of it, she took a mouthful of water.

“Well, where were we?”

“Bodie and Doyle thought themselves all alone in the world...”

“Yes. Can you imagine how desperate and sad they must have been? And remember Doyle knew that he was to blame for the end of world...! There was even a time of depression and separation. But our ancestors were strong men. They faced their fate and made the best of things. And they had each other! Don’t you ever forget that, Aniky! That’s the most important thing of all! To take care and be responsible for the one you’re with.

That earned the older woman a sincere nod. And knowing what was to come, the girl continued the tale: “But...”

“Yes, ‘but’. You jackanapes. – ‘But’ they weren’t alone!”

She sighed. “Thanks to Bodie and Doyle we know so much of the time ‘before the end of world’, and everything of the time ‘after’ Bodie and Doyle emerged, because they taught us to write it down. But there is nothing about the ‘time in between’, it’s all lost. So we can only guess at what happened.  
They say that after the ‘end of world’ there were only a handful of survivors. And those who survived were..., well Bodie and Doyle always described them as ‘Madmaxes’. Caught up in their violent past, they knew nothing better than to fight against each other for the remaining resources on earth.”

Tanita shook her head. “That must have been a terrible time! And sometimes, when Bodie and Doyle were in the mood, they told the others some details, how it would probably have been. Terrible, terrible, terrible! I can tell you.” She tightened the grip around the girl. “But that’s something you can read in the books after your initiation. Not yet!”

She went on: “The time of fights lasted about three hundred years. After that, it seems, all power, all strength, all inventive talent – everything that once made us ‘human’ - was lost.  
People ‘knew’ that there must be ‘others’, over the next hill or at the end of the river – but nobody ever tried to contact the other tribes – knowing it all would just lead to trouble. So there were small groups, maybe a hundred, sometimes two hundred people. - and they were living like the men from the Stone Age. Seed, harvest, hunting – no technical equipment, because they had forgotten how to supply energy. Worst of all – no books, no theatre, - no thinking.  
And people were content with it, because apart from warfare, it was all they knew.

If possible, Anikatess snuggled deeper into Tanita’s lap. Now it was the time for the best part of the tale.  
“Tell me about the women.”

“Yes, the women. And the ‘circles’...”

She smiled. “You see, Aniky, our society is built up on imagination! Never forget that!  
There had always been women who were ‘different’, who wanted ‘more’. But the only way they could express themselves was through writing.  
Those stories were crude - what did they know? But anyway, those women, who were living at the edge of their communities, tried to make contact with their own kind. And so those stories gradually spread throughout Britain.  
Then there came a time when two men emerged in those stories: Bodie and Doyle.  
And their narrations were so vivid, so strong – and sexy and ‘so different’...”

She couldn’t help but sigh happily.

“...that finally the strongest of those women left home. They had only a vague idea where they were going, but some of them actually found the place where Bodie and Doyle had built their first ‘town’.”

Tanita was lost in her memories. There were so many images of ‘Hope’, It was common knowledge for her nation to be aware of every single stone, of each house and every street, - the first energy generators.

“Grandma...!”

She cleared her throat. And laughed... “You know, although Bodie and Doyle were always only committed to each other – they were men... They slept with women. Children were born.”

Anikatess knew her part:  
“And a dream was born too. Of a new world!”

“Yes! And our ancestors were very – well – pragmatic!” She smiled. “At that time each woman had the right to claim ‘her child’ from one of them.”

Anikatess held her breath. “Lucky women!”

Tanita burst out laughing. “What do you know, you little plague.” She went on.  
“And at that time the rule was made that a woman had to decide for only one man. Bodie or Doyle!”

She rolled up her sleeve. A tattoo appeared that looked like four semicircles, open above, each pair with a bar as kind of cover.

Anikatess knew that it was two lying ‘Bs’ for Bodie. And she knew that other women had chosen the two lying ‘Ds’ for Doyle. Each woman of their nation was marked that way.

“Well, the rest is history. Bodie and Doyle knew their duty... And they were full of knowledge and ideas from the Old World – so the community grew and became prosperous.

When Bodie and Doyle disappeared seven years later, it was a shock for everyone. But the people gathered together their thoughts and went on building up the new society, and more and more people came to join the new community.  
At that time the people didn’t know that Bodie and Doyle had found the time stick. It was probably Cowley, who had buried it beneath the tombstone.

Bodie and Doyle never reached their target to change the future, because they weren’t able to control their journeys, but those time travels provided us with books, medicine and technology – with knowledge!

And most of all, they were the reason why so many generations knew Bodie and Doyle personally, because they couldn’t influence the point in time of their return. They vanished for days, sometimes for years and more than once for centuries.”

 

After that there was a long silence.

 

“Do you...” Anikatess nearly didn’t dare to ask.  
“Grandma, - do you think they’re still alive?”

She hesitated.

“Will they come back some day...?”

 

 

 

The End

July 2009


End file.
